It may be days before the wreckage of a train that derailed near Squamish this weekend is cleared.

CN says it has to wait for a toxic load of sodium hydroxide that was in one of the nine derailed cars to stabilize before it can be moved. Some of the corrosive liquid, commonly used in paper products and detergent, spilled into the Cheakamus River when part of the 144-car CN freight train derailed Friday.

The Transportation Safety Board is still investigating the crash, which came just days after another derailment in Alberta last week. Still, Graham Dallas with CN says the railway is one of the safest on the continent.

"We do have derailments from time to time and obviously this one is serious," Dallas said yesterday. "But the process of carrying out the investigation will let us avoid it ever happening again."

Derailments on CN tracks are not a rarity. There were two derailments in two months north of Kamloops earlier this year, and two others in Saskatchewan and Alberta this month.

© 24hrs.ca 2005